Elevator control having restricted service

ABSTRACT

A call registration circuit for an elevator which can be conditioned selectively to prevent the initiation of registration of calls for certain floors while the car is located at certain other floors. Particularly applicable to preventing car calls for the next adjacent floors to that at which the call registering passenger entered, thereby eliminating one floor runs during selected periods.

United States Patent Jerome Santysiak Toledo, Ohio Apr. 25, 1969 June 22, 1971 Reliance Electric Company Euclid, Ohio lnventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee [54] ELEVATOR CONTROL HAVING RESTRICTED Primary Examiner-Benjamin Dobeck Assistant Examiner-W. E. Duncanson, Jr. Attorney-Wilson & Fraser ABSTRACT: A call registration circuit for an elevator which can be conditioned selectively to prevent the initiation of re- 3 D i gistration of calls for certain floors while the car is located at certain other floors. Particularly applicable to preventing car [52] U.S.Cl.....- .L 187/29 calls for the next adjacent floors to that at which the call re- [51] Int. Cl B66b 1/20 gistering passenger entered, thereby eliminating one floor runs [50] Field of Search [87/29 during selected periods.

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34 ii 4FX 2FX 7| 68 a Tug 450 3 61 35 G a c 3C 0 36 3C-36 6-7 P l 7 ho 3FX IF m 38 Q ZEA PSI C I 40 -o k EFXLV 4| i EX 4 c 0-: l C 42 lC'42 DCL -o 4 3 ELEVATOR CONTROL HAVING RESTRICTED SERVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to elevator controls and more particularly to controls for selectively restricting service by an elevator car.

Heretofore it. has been known to restrict service during periods of heavy traffic as by permitting cars to serve only restricted zones of floors, eliminating service to certain floors such as basements, and preventing repetitive stops as a floor without some intervening function such as the passage of time or service at other floors. Each of these expedients has sought to employ the elevators more effectively for the entire group of prospective and actually served passengers while curtailing secondary or unnecessary service usually affecting only a few passengers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to curtail short runs of an elevator during selected periods. This is accomplished by preventing the initiation of registration of a car call for a floor when the car in which the call is sought to be registered is within a predetermined range of the floor called for, that range being greater than the normal slowdown distance to the floor. Car call registration for the floor in question can be initiated however, when the car is located outside the range of travel in which the disabling means is activated, so that service to the floor is available from certain floors. One convenient means of restricting service is to cause the controls indicating car position to disable the car registration circuits for floors within the predetermined range yet permit car call registered prior to the car entering that range to remain registered and effective to stop the car.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FlG. l is an across the line diagram of those portions of an elevator control system including a clock timer and landing indicators for two cars as they pertain to this invention;

H6. 2 is an across-the-line diagram of pertinent portions of one form of control for altering the operating mode of two cars of an elevator system to introduce and remove the operating features of this invention; and

P10. 3 is an across-the-line diagram of a fragmentary car call registration, storage and stop initiation circuit for a typical car according to this invention.

The drawings show only portions of a complete elevator system. While the invention can be employed advantageously in a single car elevator system, it is particularly suited to a multicar system wherein the program controls, landing indicators and car call circuits are duplicated for each of a plurality of cars. The invention can be applied to a system according to R. A. Buray U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,631 ofNov. 21, 1967 for Elevator Dispatch Control Using integrated Stop Time As A Measure of Traffic."

ln the drawing the circuits illustrative of the invention have been presented in across-the-line form wherein the controlling contacts are shown in general horizontal alignment with the relay coils they control. These horizontal circuit regions or hands are indexed in the margin to the right and are numbered. The relay reference characters are listed in the index in alignment with their coils and the location of contacts actuated by the relays are listed to the right of the reference characters in the index. ln order to distinguish back contacts, those which are closed when the relay armature is dropped out and are opened by pulling in the armature, from front contacts, those which are open when the armature is dropped out and are closed by the pull-in of the armature, the numerals designating the line location of back contacts are underlined while those for front contacts are not.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The service restriction of the invention is made effective only at selected periods. While many forms of program control are known, for convenience, one of the simplest is illustrated here, involving either a limited access switch such as a key switch 51 at 22 or a program timer PCL at 11 having switches actuated during certain periods of the day.

Program timer PCL at 11 is connected across a 1 l7 volt AC supply (not shown) to leads 52 and 53 through a manually operated switch 54. lts contacts are shown in FIG. 2 at lines 24 and 25. They can be arranged to close at any of a plurality of preselected times in the clock cycle, usually 24 hours, and for any closure interval. Contact PCL-1 at 24 initiates the special or restricted service operation of this invention and can be arranged to close at the initiation of each period of anticipated peak traffic, as the morning inrush, the noon exit and evening exit in a conventional office building or during the change of classes in a school building, for an interval of a few seconds. Contact PCL-2 at 25 terminates the restricted service by energizing restricted service reset relay PSX at 25 to open the seal circuit at back contact PSX at 22 to the individual carrestricted service relays PSl(A) and PSl(B) at the end of the special or restricted service period.

In the illustrated two car system, the elements individual to the cars in the common circuits are provided with parenthetical letters suffixes A, for car A, and B, for car B. Each car is provided with a group service relay (not shown) which when energized causes the car to respond to the supervisory controls for the group by actuating contacts such as GS( A) at 22 and 33 for car A and GS(B) at 24 for car B.

Closure of program clock contact PCL-l at 24 activates lead 55 from the 220 volt AC supplied buses 56 and 57. If both cars are in group service, their contacts GS(A) at 22 and GS(B) at 24 are closed to energize restricted service relays PSl(A) and PSl(B) and establish the restricted service-operating program of this invention. This program is maintained by a seal circuit to lead 55 through either of parallel contacts PSl(A) at 21 or PSl(B) at 22 to back contact PSX and through contact 59 of switch 51 to lead 55. Reset of the restricted service program by the program clock occurs by opening back contact PSX.

Switch 51 is a three-position switch having settings wherein contacts 59 at 22 are closed and 61 at 23 open, both contacts 59 and 61 are open, or contacts 59 are open and contacts 61 are closed. In all transfer operations the switch 51 breaks its circuit before making a new circuit. In the condition illustrated for switch 51, the restricted service program is controlled by clock as described above. In the condition-opening contacts 59 and 61, the program can be maintained only through program clock contact PCL-1 and thus for ordinary settings of that contact only momentarily. When contact 61 is closed, a circuit from bus 56 to lead 55 and the relays PSl(A) and PSl(B) is established and maintained without regard to the clock control. Switch 51 by a momentarily opening of contact 59 can also be employed to reset the clock established restricted service program since upon the drop of relays PSl(A) and PSl(B) their seal contacts at 21 and 22 open.

The system has conventional hall call-registering means which stop cars at floors for which hall calls are registered when the cars are capable of providing service in the service direction of the call, coordinate the operation of the cars for efficient utilization, and alter the operation for appropriate conditions (all by means not shown).

Car calls are served in the order they are encountered by a traveling car for ordinary operation. With the restricted service program in effect for a car, it continues to operate in response to registered hall calls in a normal manner (by means not shown) and curtails local or interfloor traffic by disabling car call registration-initiating circuits for floors within a given range of the current car position. ln the exemplary embodiment, the program is applied to a six landing system for a school building and the program of restricted service is instituted at the change of classes to prevent one floor runs and to require the students to use stairways for changes between classes on adjacent floors. The car call initiation circuits for a floor are therefore arranged to be disabled while the car is at an adjacent floor and suitable indicators are activated at the landings to indicate floors which can be served from that floor. Alternative arrangements which can employ this program for other utilizations can, for example, exclude service to the next two adjacent floors by barring the initiation of car call registrations for those floors, or exclude initiation of certain car call registrations from certain floors while permitting registrations for all floors from landings at which primary traffic originates, e.g. dispatching floors or a floor serving a ballroom or a restaurant. Throughout this special service as in ordinary service, if a car call is registered it is retained in registration until cancelled by service of the car at the floor of the call or by conventional car call cancellation as at reversal of travel.

The landing indicator for restricted service for the third floor is shown in FIG. 1. it comprises a special service sign having illuminated floor numbers represented by the lamps 62 at 13 with adjacent floor numerals arranged in a panel between the entries to cars A and B with illuminated arrows 63 and 64 indicating the cars subject to special service. It may also bear a legend TElevator Service Only to Floors" thereby signifying the illuminate numerals represent sewed floors. Each landing service sign is wired individually. That for the third landing indicates no service to the second and fourth landings since only lamps 62 for the first, fifth and sixth landings are wired. The indicator for the first landing has lamps 62 for the third through sixth landings wired, etc.

If either car is set for special service, its restricted service relay contact PSl(A) at 12 or PSl(B) at 13 is closed to illuminate the landing indicator lamps 62. The special service cars indicator 63 or 64 is also illuminated by contact PSl(A) at 14 or car A and PSl(B) at 15 for car B.

Car call circuits for car A are shown in FIG. 3. These circuits comprise car call relays having a set coil and a reset coil arranged across buses 65 and 66 supplied from a 120 volt DC source with the set coils to the right and connected directly to bus 66 and the reset coils to the left and connected to lead 67. Car call, pushbutton actuated contacts are in series circuit with the set coils so that in ordinary operation the depressing of a car call pushbutton in the operating panel in car A for a floor initiates car call registration, by setting the car call relay for that floor as, for floor 3, from bus 65 through back contact PSl(A) at 33, to lead 60 and thence to pushbutton contact C3 at 35 back contact PSl(A) at 34, and call registration indicator lamp 68 at 34 and set coil 3C at 36 of the third floor car call relay to bus 66.

When car A is in group service so that contact GS(A) at 34 connects bus 65 to lead 67, a seal circuit for the car relay set coil is provided around the call button as through contact 3C at line 36 to leads 69 and 71 and thence to lamp 68 and set coil 3C. Alternative circuits (not shown) are provided between bus 65 and lead 67 for operation of the seal and reset circuits for car calls when the car is not on group service and contact GS(A) at 34 is open however, these circuits are not of concern here since the special service feature applies only to cars in group service. i

The invention. has been illustrated in a system employing a notching floor selector which advances step-by-step and energizes floor position relays (not shown) corresponding to the effective position of the car, the position of the floor for a stopped car and the range of positions from which a running car can be stopped or in which a car is being stopped at the fioor. These floor position relays are designated FX" with a prefix corresponding to the floor. Thus, contact lFX at 42 is closed and back contact IFX at 38 is opened when the car is effectively at the first floor, i.e. either stopped at the first floor, passing through the call pickup zone for a first floor stop, or passing through the zone between the call pickup zone and the first floor while being stopped at the first floor.

The notching selector is controlled by a notching relay (not shown) to open contact NL at 32 for the interval the car traverses its call acceptance zone for each floor. The travel interval of a car through its call acceptance zone of each floor is defined by a slowdown zone relay which is pulled in after and dropped with the notching relay to close and open its contact SDZ at 44. If the car picks up a call for a stop, the slowdown zone relay seals in (by means not shown) to hold contact SDZ at 44 closed until the stop sequence is set and the car call cancelled, in the case of a car call stop. Floor position relays are pulled in and dropped out without the overlap of pull-in for the relays of adjacent floors during the running of the car and while the notching relay is energized. Thus, the car call pickup and cancellation circuits are commutated in the illustrated system as the car runs from the first floor upward by transferring from the state with relay lFX energized to deenergize notching relay NL, then drop relay lFX, then energize slow down zone relay SDZ, then pull in relay 2FX, then energize relay NL and drop relay SDZ. Such a sequence occurs for each transition between floors. Alternatively, the circuits can be commutated by a mechanical floor selector having brushes carried by a carriage over an array of contact segments spaced in scale to elevator travel.

Car calls are cancelled as the door of the car begins to open for a stop for the call. As the car approaches the third floor, the position contact for the preceding floor is opened, as 2FX at 39 for an ascending car or 4FX (not shown) for a descending car, and the position contact of the approached floor 3FX at 36 is closed. This contact remains closed until the car effectively is past the third floor, as where it is traveling at a speed which precludes its stop within the constraints of deceleration imposed on the system, or at least throughout the interval the car is stopped at the third floor. With a third floor car call registered, lead 72 is activated from bus 65 through contact GS(A) at 34, lead 67, contact 3C at 36, reset coil 3C, and contact 3FX at 36 to lead 72. When the car enters the region in which is can accept calls for and make a normal stop at the third landing, its, slowdown zone relay (not shown) is energized to close its contacts SDZ at 44 thereby energizing car call stopping relay CCS to initiate the slowdown and stopping sequences which will bring the car to a stop at the third floor. A stop signal maintains contacts SDZ closed until the call is reset. The reset coil of each car call relay has the characteristic that it develops insufficient flux in opposition to the flux of the set coil to cause the armature of the relay to dropout when connected in series with the impedance of the coil CCS. Thus while the car is slowed, the car call remains registered.

Car call relays are reset as the car doors are opened. In the final leveling of the car, when it is within a few inches of level, the door-opening operation is initiated (by means not shown) and as the door reaches a position a few inches from fully closed in its opening operation, the cars door close limit relay (not shown) is energized to close its contact DCL at 43. This places resistance 73 in parallel with the impedance of coil CCS whereby sufficient current flows in the car call reset coil, 3C in the example, to reset the car call and open contact 3C at 36. However, at this time, the car controls are set to complete the stop of the car and car call stopping relay CCS need no longer be retained energized.

On the restricted service program, the above-described car call circuits are modified. The connection between bus 65 and lead 60 through back contact PSl(A) at 33 is interrupted so that the car call registration initiating circuits are disabled during the transition of the car through each call acceptance or slowdown zone. This avoids the possibility of stopping the car through the application of continuous pressure on the car call button of a floor to which service is restricted as the cars effective position makes the transfer from an adjacent floor at which the call initiation circuit was disable. Once the car has passed through the call acceptance or slowdown zone, the registration of a car call for the passed fioor has no effect in stopping the car. Thus the car will not be stopped at the restricted service floor in making a transition from the floor at which the call registration disabling was established.

Disabling of the initiation circuits for call registration on a car position basis during restricted service is by the parallel circuits between the respective call buttons and the set coils of the car call relays. Again considering the third floor, it will be recalled that the car is not to serve the next adjacent floor from the third floor and thus will not serve the second or fourth floors to car'calls registered while it is at the third floor. With restricted service relay PSl(A) energized, back contacts PSl(A) at 31, 34, 37 and 40 are open so that the car call set relays are now controlled according to car position by its car position relay back contacts. For the third floor, back contacts 4F X and 2FX at 35 open the circuit while the car is effectively at floors 2 and 4 to preclude registration of a third floor car call. A third floor car call registered while the car is effectively at floors other than 2 and 4 will be registered since the car call set circuit will be available through back contacts 4FX and 2FX and once established, the seal through contact 3C at 36 will be maintained until the car stops. It is to be noted that while a car call for floor 3 can be registered while the car is effectively at the third floor, however the sequencing of the relays are such that the registration can be initiated only after the car has passed its slowdown zone for the third floor since contact NL at 32 is open during the transition from the second or fourth floor position relays to the third floor position relay and until the slowdown zone is passed. Thus relay 3C cannot pull in until after contact SDZ at 44 has opened, at which time the circuit through contacts 3C, reset coil 3C, and contact 3FX all at 36 is ineffective. in similar fashion a call for adjacent floors two and four cannot be registered while the car is at the third floor since a back contact of the third floor position relay 3FX at 38 in the set circuit for second floor car calls is open as is a similar contact in the circuit for the fourth floor car call (not shown).

Blocking diodes are placed in series with the car positioncontrolled disabling means for the car call registration initiation circuit, the position relay contacts of floors adjacent the floor of the disabled circuit, to avoid hegating the restricted service feature. Absent such diodes, such negation is accomplished by simultaneously closing a car call-registering contact for a disabled floor and a car call-registering contact for a floor for which car calls can be registered. For example, with the car at the second floor, open back contact 2FX at 35 prevents direct registration through car call button C3. As the car runs to transfer from the second to the third floor position relay back contact 2FX closes at 35. if a top floor car call had previously been registered, contact TC at 33 provides a circuit to bridging lead 24. This circuit can be connected to lead 60 through closed back contact 5FX and car call button CT both at 32. The circuit from lead 60 is now supplied from lead 65 despite the open NL contact at 32 so that closure of car button contact C3 will complete a circuit through closed back contacts 4FX and ZFX to pull-in relay 3C. Upon closure of contact 3C at 36 while contact 3F X at 36 is closed and while contact SDZ at 44 is closed, a car call stop will be instituted for the car at floor three. This sneak path is avoided by diode 75 since it is poled in the blocking direction for the positive potential to bridging lead 24. A similarly positioned diode in series with the position relay back contacts of the car call disabling feature for each floor thus disabled, will prevent alternate sneak circuits of this type. With the diodes placed in parallel with restricted service relay back contacts PSl(A), a failure of a diode will not interrupt car call registration for operation when the service restriction means is ineffective.

It should be noted that the initiation of a car call registration as a car runs past the call acceptance zone for a floor can be avoided by means other than the notching relay contact NL at 32 and the blocking diode. Thus a notching-type selector can be employed with lead 60 connected to bus 65 if the position relays are of the bridging type where they are energized in overlapping relation for adjacent floors as the cars effective position transfers from floor to floor, provided a position relay contact for the disabled floor is included in the series of car call initiation disabling position contacts. In the case of the third floor, floor bridging relay contacts for the fourth, third and second floors could be substituted for contacts 4FX and 2FX at 35 to accomplish this registration disabling feature.

it is to be appreciated that the invention lends itself to utilization in systems of elevator control other than those described and shown and to application to different types of control elements than shown. Accordingly, the present disclosure is to be read as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

lclaim:

1. A control for an elevator system having an elevator car serving a plurality of floors including a car call registration means for initiating registration of calls from within the car for each of a plurality of floors, means sensing the effective position of the car at a predetermined floor, and means responsive to said sensing means and effective for a certain floor having a predetermined spatial relationship to the effective position of the car at the predetermined floor for disabling said car callregistering initiation means for said certain floor other than the predetermined floor while said car is effectively positioned at said predetermined floor.

2. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said position sensing means are provided for each of a plurality of said floors and said disabling means for a certain floor is effective while either of a plurality of said sensing means are effective.

3. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said disabling means is actuated while said car is located at a floor adjacent said certain floor.

4. A combination according to claim 1 including means to selectively enable said car call-registering disabling means.

5. A combination according to claim 4 including an indicator for a floor for which said sensing means is effective to actuate car call-registering disabling means to indicate the floor of said disabled car call registering means.

6. A combination according to claim 4 including an indicator for a floor for which said sensing means is effective to actuate said disabling means to indicate the floors for which disabling means have.

7. An elevator car control comprising selectively actuatable programming means having a first condition for regular service and a second condition for special service, a car call registration circuit, means to sense the effective position of the car at a predetermined floor at which the car has the current capability to stop or is stopped, means responsive to said sensing means when the car is at the floor for predetermined disabling said car call registration circuit for the initiation of car a call for a given floor other than the predetermined floor, and means to negate said disabling means when said programming means is in said first condition.

8. A combination according to claim 7 wherein said car call registration circuit comprises a manually actuated switch and a car call registration means in series therewith, wherein said disabling means when actuated blocks signals and is in series with said switch and said registration means, and wherein said negating means passes signals and is in parallel with said disabling means.

9. A combination according to claim 7 wherein said car position sensing means is effective for each of a plurality of predetermined floors, wherein said car call registration-disabling means is responsive for each of a plurality of car floor position sensed by said sensing means, and wherein said disabling means for certain floors disables circuits for the initiation of car call registration for floors immediately adjacent and on either side of the currently sensed predetermined floor.

10. A combination according to claim 7 wherein said means for disabling the initiation of car call registration is for a given floor adjacent the predetermined effective floor position of the car, and including means to disable the initiation of car call registration for said given floor as the car runs from the predetermined floor past the given floor.

11. A combination according to claim 7 including car call stopping means responsive to the location of the car in a and means to bar initiation of registration of car calls in said car call registration circuit while said stopping range is defined. 

1. A control for an elevator system having an elevator car serving a plurality of floors including a car call registration means for initiating registration of calls from within the car for each of a plurality of floors, means sensing the effective position of the car at a predetermined floor, and means responsive to said sensing means and effective for a certain floor having a predetermined spatial relationship to the effective position of the car at the predetermined floor for disabling said car call-registering initiation means for said certain floor other than the predetermined floor while said car is effectively positioned at said predetermined floor.
 2. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said position sensing means are provided for each of a plurality of said floors and said disabling means for a certain floor is effective while either of a plurality of said sensing means are effective.
 3. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said disabling means is acTuated while said car is located at a floor adjacent said certain floor.
 4. A combination according to claim 1 including means to selectively enable said car call-registering disabling means.
 5. A combination according to claim 4 including an indicator for a floor for which said sensing means is effective to actuate car call-registering disabling means to indicate the floor of said disabled car call registering means.
 6. A combination according to claim 4 including an indicator for a floor for which said sensing means is effective to actuate said disabling means to indicate the floors for which disabling means have.
 7. An elevator car control comprising selectively actuatable programming means having a first condition for regular service and a second condition for special service, a car call registration circuit, means to sense the effective position of the car at a predetermined floor at which the car has the current capability to stop or is stopped, means responsive to said sensing means when the car is at the floor for predetermined disabling said car call registration circuit for the initiation of car a call for a given floor other than the predetermined floor, and means to negate said disabling means when said programming means is in said first condition.
 8. A combination according to claim 7 wherein said car call registration circuit comprises a manually actuated switch and a car call registration means in series therewith, wherein said disabling means when actuated blocks signals and is in series with said switch and said registration means, and wherein said negating means passes signals and is in parallel with said disabling means.
 9. A combination according to claim 7 wherein said car position sensing means is effective for each of a plurality of predetermined floors, wherein said car call registration-disabling means is responsive for each of a plurality of car floor position sensed by said sensing means, and wherein said disabling means for certain floors disables circuits for the initiation of car call registration for floors immediately adjacent and on either side of the currently sensed predetermined floor.
 10. A combination according to claim 7 wherein said means for disabling the initiation of car call registration is for a given floor adjacent the predetermined effective floor position of the car, and including means to disable the initiation of car call registration for said given floor as the car runs from the predetermined floor past the given floor.
 11. A combination according to claim 7 including car call stopping means responsive to the location of the car in a stopping range of the floor of a registered car call, means to define the stopping range for restricting operation of said stopping means to the car travel interval through said range, and means to bar initiation of registration of car calls in said car call registration circuit while said stopping range is defined. 